The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
It is becoming relatively common for handheld display devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) or smartphones, to run a variety of different software applications. Some types of commonly used software applications may include an email program or an Internet browser. A generalized handheld electronic device might include a display (e.g., a liquid crystal display), an externally-mounted user input device (e.g., a group of buttons or a cursor device), and a controller for running the software applications. In operation of the device a user may utilize one of the software applications available to generate images and text on the display that represents the output of the software application. For example, if the software application is an Internet browser, the image may be a webpage.
The display in a handheld electronic device is limited in size, and is usually only a fraction of the dimensions of a display found in a personal computer. As a result, images such as webpages that are formatted for large displays as used with personal computers may not be accurately shown on the handheld device display. In some cases, some portions of the webpage may be difficult or even impossible to view on a handheld display. Consequently, the handheld display has a field of view (FOV) that displays only a portion of the image generated by the webpage. The user may then manually manipulate the FOV of the display utilizing the externally-mounted user input to view the entire image, portion by portion. For example, a user may utilize the externally-mounted user input to scroll the FOV of the image upward, downward, to the left, and to the right and to adjust the scale of the FOV (i.e., to zoom in and out) as desired.
Handheld display devices that require manual manipulation of the externally-mounted user input device to adjust the display's FOV may be limited in certain respects. For example, the externally-mounted user input device may occupy a relatively large amount of space on the device's exterior that might otherwise accommodate a larger display screen or additional user inputs. Furthermore, the manner in which such externally-mounted user input devices are utilized to manipulate the display's FOV may not be intuitive to some users.
Another known problem that occurs with handheld electronic devices is the ability to easily select an object displayed by the software application. The device may include an externally-mounted mouse that controls a cursor on the display. For example, the externally-mounted mouse could be a device such as a touchpad located under the display. However, the touchpad may be limited in size due to packaging constraints, making the touchpad difficult for some users to manipulate. In another example, the device may not have a cursor at all, and a user's finger may act as a pointer instead. However, this approach may not be intuitive to some users who may prefer a cursor that is visible on the display.
In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a handheld electronic device that includes a means for manipulating a cursor on a display that is intuitive and that overcomes the disadvantages described above.